Where on Earth did the time go? How is my first born son 5?? On January 4th, Austin turned a whole hand! Five fingers! Craziness. Austin wanted a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle party with his closest family and friends....all 40 of them! Yep. That's how many people were here. 40! That's love! Even my parents got to be here to celebrate! So back to the party. Since we eat, sleep and breathe Ninja Turtles, it was only fitting. Austin's birthday is right after Christmas which makes my budget a little tighter, especially when you need to feed and entertain 40 people (I know, can you believe they want to eat AND be entertained?) Joking! Thankfully the Turtles favorite food is pizza and we know just where we can score some of that! I went to the bakery to check out the price of a Ninja Turtle cake for that many people and I was quoted in the three figures! Ummm.....excuse me? For a cake? Sure, would you also like a kidney and some rare blood? So since I don't have rare blood I decided to make my own cake...two of them to be exact. Austin really wanted to help me with the cake, so I went ahead and let him do some mixing. I also made some treat bags for the kids with Ninja Turtle goodies inside. We had some yummy green punch or sewer water. I wanted a green drink without sprite in it since I don't let the boys have soda. It is really hard to find, but this did the trick! Thank you Trisha Yearwood for your yummy punch! The kids table. I made each of them a ninja turtle mask out of felt and elastic. The kids loved them! I made this just for fun. I painted a mason jar green and then wasn't sure what I wanted to do with it. I had a strip of red fabric, so I glued some eyes to it and whoop there it is! YAY!!! PIZZA! I snagged some pizza boxes from the store and used one for my pizza cake that I made. I tinted the icing with brown gel coloring, used red icing for the sauce and grated white chocolate for the cheese. The pepperoni was cut from a sugar sheet. It was not the most perfect, but Austin thought it was the coolest thing ever, so that was a win in my books! I also made this ninja turtle cake. I loved it until I wrote Happy Birthday. Again, Austin was in love and that made me a happy Mommy! I found some free turtle font and made this banner for him, which is now lovingly hung over his bed! Tissue paper garland! Another easy decor project that added a little something to make my boy's day special. PARTY TIME!! Are they happy or what? Our dear friend Mike is an amazing magician!! We had him perform for the kids (and the adults) and he was the biggest hit EVER!! He is seriously so talented! If you are in NC, please comment for his information. Seriously AMAZING!! I love this picture. They were just talking and I adore that I captured the true smiles on their faces. Asher man was loving his balloon animal! Jess decided on a pink elephant. The kiddos and their balloons. cake time! Time for a few posed shots. After everyone left and little brother was down for his nap, I let Austin open his presents. It was so much less chaotic and I was able to keep track of what came from whom. I am pretty sure he was happy with his gifts. Happy 5th birthday to my sweet baby boy. We love you to all the planets and back!